Imaging Center’s new home will add equipment

TUPELO – The Imaging Center is getting more than a new location. When the center opens its new facility on South Gloster Street this summer, it will offer new and advanced equipment, including a new MRI.
Dr. Michael Currie and the Imaging Center staff have operated out of Gloster Creek Village for almost 10 years. They plan to celebrate their 10th anniversary just across the street at their new location next to Atlanta Bread.
“The move is an opportunity to move out on our own,” Currie said.
The center’s new equipment will not only reduce the time it takes to perform a scan, it will lessen the need to inject a dye in patients for a contrast MRI. Although contrast is safe and broadly used, it still increases the risk to patients who might be allergic or have compromised kidneys, which slows the removal of the chemical from the blood.
In addition to the new MRI, the Imaging Center is adding a lower radiation-emitting CT scanner. While the scanner is a retooled model, the software with which is will be equipped is an upgrade from what the center currently has.
With the new facility, Currie said he is proud to contribute to the rejuvenation of South Gloster.
Business owners and residents have worked together the past few years through an association that seeks to help revitalize the area. The Imaging Center is one of several new projects to have come to fruition in recent years.
The privately financed Imaging Center project is valued around $4 million.
The center hopes it will increase its visibility as well as provide a new, more efficient space.
Chief Operation Officer Tami Busby said, “I want a sign on Gloster,” referencing the high-traffic volume of the new location. She believes the move will bring in more business and make it easier for current patients to find.
Busby explained that another reason the move is so close to their current location has to do with state licensing. In order to operate the MRI, a Certificate of Need is required by the state Department of Health. That certificate is only good for a one mile radius. A move further down the road would have require a new CON and additional time and resources necessary to get one.
The new facility is slated to open its doors in June.
sarah.robinson@journalinc.com